As someone who plays 3 different classes with regularity, at level cap, I have seen a lot of initial changes for patch 3.1 that make me a happy camper:
- Ground mounts will no longer dismount in water and will be able to swim
- Players will be able to switch between two talent specializations.
Players will have up to two talent specializations and will be able to
switch between them, action bars and glyphs will also be switched
accordingly. - Divine Spirit – this spell is now a core ability available to all priests.
- Totem streamlining: The Mana Spring and Healing Stream Totems have been
combined. The Disease Cleansing and Poison Cleansing Totems have been
combined.
That said, I am *not* at all happy about the mana regeneration changes. Excellent spirit-based mana regen was a boon for druids and kept them competitive in raid healing. Feels also like this will substantially nerf innervate's usefulness for Boomkins, who, unlike priests and mages of all specs, do not have a mana regen talent being boosted:
- Regeneration while not casting (outside of the “five second rule”) will be decreased.
- To make this change, we are reducing mana regeneration granted by
Spirit across the board. However we are also boosting the effects of
talents such as Meditation that increase regeneration while casting. - The specific talents and abilities being boosted are: Arcane
Meditation, Improved Spirit Tap, Intensity, Mage Armor, Meditation,
Pyromaniac and Spirit Tap. Yes this makes these “mandatory” talents
even more mandatory, if such a thing is possible.
Visit MMO Champion for more on the initially proposed talent and spec changes, plus a peek at the Tier 8 sets from the forthcoming Ulduar raid wing.